The General Pharmaceutical Council (Statutory Committees and their Advisers Rules) Order of Council 2010

PART 5 Provisions Relating to Meeting and Hearings

Secretaries of statutory committees

17.—(1) Each statutory committee is to be assisted by a secretary.

(2) No person may act as secretary to a statutory committee if that person is a member of the Council.

(3) No person acting as secretary to the Investigating Committee may act as secretary to the Fitness to Practise Committee.

(4) The secretary to a statutory committee is to be responsible for the administrative arrangements relating to the proceedings of that committee.

(5) The secretary to a statutory committee must, in consultation with the chair of the relevant statutory committee, select the legal, clinical and specialist advisers to advise the committee, as required in any particular case.

(6) The secretary to a statutory committee must keep a record, or ensure a record is kept, of all decisions made by the statutory committee and the reasons for them.

(7) The secretary to a statutory committee may not participate in the decision making of the statutory committee (and is not entitled to vote).

The composition of statutory committees at particular meetings or hearings

18.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the quorum for a meeting (other than a case management meeting) or a hearing of a statutory committee is three members which must include—

(a) the chair or a deputy chair;

(b) a lay member; and

(c) a registrant member.

(2) Subject to paragraphs (4) to (7), the chair of the Fitness to Practise Committee must, having consulted the secretary of the Committee, and with regard to—

(a) matters to be considered by the Committee; and

(b) availability, experience and expertise of Committee members,

determine the particular size, composition and quorum of the Committee required for each hearing and any related meetings.

(3) Case management meetings of the statutory committees are to be conducted by the chair of the statutory committee which is holding the case management meeting.

(4) Where the chair of the Fitness to Practise Committee determines that only specified members of the Committee are required for a particular hearing and any related meetings, the chair must ensure that—

(a) the chair or a deputy chair of the Committee is one of the specified members;

(b) the quorum is not less than three; and

(c) the number of registrant members who are members of that formation of the Committee does not exceed the number of lay members by more than one.

(5) The chair of the Fitness to Practise Committee must ensure that a member of the Committee who has sat in a formation of the Committee that has made an interim suspension order or an order for interim conditional entry in a particular case must not sit in subsequent proceedings in that case.

(6) Paragraph (5) does not apply where the subsequent proceedings relate solely to measures under article 56 of the Order.

(7) For the purposes of paragraph (5), where an interim suspension order or an order for interim conditional entry is made in the course of the proceedings to determine a case substantively, the rest of the proceedings to determine the case substantively are not “subsequent proceedings” even if the case is adjourned (for whatever reason).

(8) At any meeting or hearing of a statutory committee, the number of registrant members considering a case must not exceed the number of lay members by more than one.

Provisions against bias

19.—(1) No member of a statutory committee (or a formation of a statutory committee) may sit as a member considering a particular case, at any stage of the proceedings relating to that case, if that member has an actual, or potential, conflict of interest in relation to that case.

(2) The Registrar must establish, maintain and publish a register of the private interests of all members, including chairs and deputy chairs, of the statutory committees.

(3) Each member of the statutory committees must notify the Registrar immediately of any private interest that the member has not previously notified to the Registrar but which may need to be recorded in the register maintained under paragraph (2).

Voting

20.—(1) Decisions of a statutory committee must be taken by a simple majority of the members, with the chair not having a casting vote.

(2) If a member of a statutory committee abstains from a vote at a meeting or hearing of a statutory committee, the member’s abstention must be treated as a vote against the motion that has been put to the vote.

(3) Where the Fitness to Practise Committee is considering pursuant to article 54(1) of the Order whether or not a person’s fitness to practise is impaired, a tied vote is to be treated as a determination that the person’s fitness to practise is not impaired.